April 26, 2004

The Toronto Subway Song As Toronto celebrates the 50th anniversary of the TTC, which includes Canada's first subway system, sit back and enjoy this little ditty courtesy of the excellent CBC archives For many Torontonians the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) is a part of our daily lives; taking the streetcar, bus or subway is second nature. Although the Toronto subway may not be the world's oldest nor the largest we definitely have something to be proud of: its seems to be the only one with a song...

When the TTC homepage loads up you hear the same chimes that the subway makes to alert riders that the doors are closing. They've captured it brilliantly on the site; it sounds much the same down in the tunnels.

posted by Fred Wesley 20 years ago
  • i'm so jealous! what a cool song! if the d.c. subway had a song it would include lyrics about how the escalators are constantly down. heh. i love subways.
  • Hey, the London Underground has loads of tunes... Oh, please yourselves, then. This, from the same site, is intermittently amusing, too.
  • You guys have a subway?
  • in addition to d.c.'s regular subway (the second-deepest in the world as d.c. is built on swampland) we also have a little-known but very cute subway that connects house and senate office buildings on capitol hill.
  • Yes, we have a subway. And we all sing this song in four part harmony on our way to work every morning.
  • yah, and you were a bit off key this morning Orange Swan ;-)
  • It is, however, a subway that goes *above ground* for quite some time. Give me the ol' Montreal Metro anyday instead, please!
  • what's wrong with the subway being above ground at certain stops...? i love the montreal metro too tho'... it's so pretty. i'll be riding it again the 2nd week of may, i'm so excited to be coming home for a few days, wheee...!
  • You must take the A train if you want to go to Harlem.
  • all off last stop, harlem usa. watch the closing doors, watch the closing doors.
  • Well, if the subway weren't above grounds in places people would have to stay off their cellphones for the entire duration of their ride. And I'm sure they couldn't handle that.
  • C'mon. TTC music? Shuffle Demons - Spadina Bus. I see they are reuniting later this year.
  • Fred - you've made me so happy, and so homesick at the same time. TTC is still the first word that comes into my mind when I think of what to call public transit, and no one ever understands. I was up to three or more hours some days before I left (it's a long way out to the boonies). The TTC subway is also on this page - though due to a typo it is labelled the "TTV" (which looks like it should be a Russian news station or something).
  • Sorry - was so emotional I forgot the link (scroll down)
  • That is absolutely the catchiest song I've ever heard about the Toronto subway. Now there's a site to put together: mass transit tunes from across the globe. Any monkey want the job? Agree SideDish, we need a DC subway tune, perhaps to convince peep to make the Dulles extension. We should definitely borrow the line from toronto about expenses...
  • don't forget the Boston "MTA" which I think is the most famous (along with the cheesy "Riding on the Metro" by Berlin: No he never returned And his fate is still unlearn'd He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston He's the man who never returned. but except for Take the A Train, I can't think of another NY song that's all about the subway (tons of them reference it, like Native New Yorker, tho) here's a whole bunch of them, from around the world
  • It is, however, a subway that goes *above ground* for quite some time. So does the Underground in London, and thats the oldest underground rail system in the world. Stupid Victorians.